By Finbarr Jewell
“This is the meaning of the new word freedom (Azadi), which all the prophets and the philosophers and scholars of the world have directly or indirectly striven for.”
— One edition of Sur-i Israfil, Jahangir Khan’s newspaper
On the morning of June 23, 1908, a thousand soldiers opened fire on the Iranian parliament building in Tehran. Among those found inside was Mirza Jahangir Khan Shirazi, editor of Sur-i Israfil, a newspaper he had helped found less than one year earlier. Unfortunately, Jahangir Khan’s devotion to a better Iran would draw the ire of the shah, leading to his arrest and execution. His last words were “Long live the Constitution.”
Mirza Jahangir Khan Shirazi was born into a relatively poor family in the Iranian city of Shiraz in 1876. He loved learning from a young age and would eventually be accepted into the prestigious Dar al-Funun University in Tehran to study modern sciences.
During his time at Dar al-Funun, Mirza Jahangir Khan encountered the teachings of Iranian intellectual reformer Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani and would eventually become part of a group of reformers pushing for the establishment of a constitutional parliament. Jahangir Khan was further shaped by his personal religious beliefs. At some point, Jahangir Khan became an Azali Babi, a member of a religious community persecuted by both state and religious leaders. The experience of being part of a persecuted religious minority, combined with an intellectual tradition that pushed for a better Iran, would instill Jahangir Khan with a deep sense of empathy and purpose that he would use for the rest of his life to help others.
In the spring of 1907, one year after the establishment of Iran’s first constitutional parliament, Jahangir Khan co-founded the newspaper Sur-i Israfil (The Trumpet’s Call of Israfil). The name referred to the trumpet that Archangel Israfil uses to wake the dead on the day of judgment and represented Jahangir Khan’s belief that the fate of Iran lay with its citizens.
With the literacy rate in Iran extremely low, Jahangir Khan was determined to make Sur-i Israfil as accessible as possible. His newspaper was written in simple Persian, blended political ideas with comments from ordinary citizens, and created new terminology that could bring the concepts of “law” and “politics” to the widest possible audience. To further his goal, he hired Ali Akbar Dehkhoda, a fellow intellectual reformer who began writing a satirical column for the newspaper. From its very first issue, the paper was an incredible success, initially printing 5,000 copies and reaching over 20,000 at its peak, highlighting the demand for change in Iran and Jahangir Khan’s commitment to use his platform to improve the lives of his fellow countrymen.
“In perfecting the cause of constitutionalism … as well as aiding the peasants, the weak, the poor, and the oppressed, we hope to be steadfast to the end. We have no fear of intimidation and death. We give no value to life without freedom, equality, and honor.”
— Sur-i Israfil’s mission statement
Jahangir Khan used his position as newspaper editor to champion the rights of those without a voice. The paper exposed many corruption cases, advocated for the rights of minorities and women, and published articles arguing that peasants should own the land that they worked on. Dehkhoda’s satirical column challenged conservative religious clerics and hardline beliefs surrounding child marriage and polygamy, and held Majlis delegates accountable when they opposed women’s petitions for schools and councils. From its very first issue, Jahangir Khan used Sur-i Israfil solely to serve others.
As a result of Sur-i Israfil’s willingness to constantly challenge the status quo, the paper was repeatedly shut down. At one point, a group of 50 theology students publicly called for the killing of the newspaper’s writers. However, despite the risk to his life, Jahangir Khan refused to stop pushing for justice, always managing to reopen the paper and continue his fight, showing that his dedication to others was stronger than any threat.
His commitment to the community extended into all aspects of his life. Eventually, Jahangir Khan became a secret member of the National Revolutionary Committee, helping to organize a few thousand armed volunteers to protect the new parliament from royalist forces. In December 1907, Muhammad Ali Shah attempted a failed coup. During the widespread unrest that followed, Jahangir Khan was among those in charge of coordinating a defense of the parliament building, doing everything he could to protect something he saw as so critical to Iran’s future.
Unfortunately, just five months later, the shah would attempt another coup, this time successfully. Muhammad Ali Shah ordered the bombardment of the parliament building, with Jahangir Khan inside. Eventually, the royal forces breached the walls, and in the next few days, Jahangir Khan would be arrested. He would be executed without a trial while the king watched. His last words were allegedly “Long live the Constitutional government” and “O Land, we are [being] murdered for the sake of your preservation,” showing that in his short time on Earth, he never once placed his own safety above the cause he had devoted his life to.
Dehkhoda fled to Switzerland and published three more editions of Sur-i Israfil before it was shut down. One night, Jahangir Khan came to him in a dream. Dehkhoda woke up, turned on the light, and wrote a poem titled Remember the Dead Candle. The poem ends with a plea that still holds meaning today: “remember him who, for the crime of praising the truth, has drunk the draught of union from the point of the headsman’s sword.” Jahangir Khan lived his life as someone who was willing to use whatever platform he had to speak for those who could not speak for themselves. His story invites us to do whatever we can, no matter how small, in the service of others.
Finbarr Jewell is currently a third-year student at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), pursuing a double major in Microbiology and Religious Studies. He has served as an intern with the Dehkhoda Educational Foundation since Fall 2025.
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